Thunder Lose to Hannibal-LaGrange, but score first goal of the season

Lady Thunder traveled to play Hannibal-LaGrange University on Thursday. Thunder came out and held the Trojans scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the game. Something that they had not managed in previous games. "I thought that we came out strong and ready the first part of the game." said Coach Jagerson. Around the 35th minute HLGU found the back of the net just pass the diving Thunder goalkeeper Christoni Carpenter. The Trojans managed to score 3 more goals in the first half. "We had some moments where we played excellent defense, but we had some other times where our inexperieced showed. We still need to work on keeping the players from running right past us. That just comes from playing the game" stated Jagerson.

A bright spot in the first half came when the Thunder forwards, Veronica Hernandez and Monica Garcia, pressured the Trojan defense and earned the Thunder's 1st corner of the season. On the ensuing corner, the ball was thought to be cleared by the HLGU defense, but it went right to Thunder defender Caitlyn Cogswell who shot it over the keeper and into the back of the net. "We had not had a set play all year and when we earned this corner, we pulled everyone up and Caitlyn happened to be right there and hit the perfect shot right over the keeper." said Jagerson.

In second half the Thunder could not stop the Trojans as they scored 4 more times. The final score was 9-1.

"We didn't seem to come out with the same intensity as we did in the first half. We are getting closer, as we played a really good first half of soccer. Last game against Bethany College, we played a really good 2nd half. Now we just have to put it all together in one game and the results will show. We need to tighten a few things up on defense and continue to push to score. As we continue to gain experience playing the game, I believe that is going to happen. I can't wait to see what happens when we put 2 really good halves together."

The Thunder are back in action at home on Saturday against Tabor College at 1pm. Then they will travel to Doane University on Tuesday, followed by their first NCCAA game on Friday against Faith Baptist in Iowa.